News

£40,000 boost for breast cancer unit campaign

A CAMPAIGN to raise £1.8 million towards a new breast cancer unit in Worcester has received a massive boost thanks to a generous £40,000 donation from a charitable foundation.

The Worcester Breast Unit Campaign announced this week it had won a bid for the grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation, a charitable trust which supports community projects across the UK.

This takes the total raised by the campaign, which was launched in October 2009 and has been backed throughout by your Worcester News, to £1,216,038, with only £583,962 left to go before it hits its target.

The campaign’s chairman, Fiona Charny, said she was “delighted” by the donation.

Last week the campaign launched a last big push to raise the £115,000 needed to start work on the unit.

It hopes to appeal to local businesses in Worcestershire to ‘make it happen’ and get the unit open as soon as possible.

“This huge support and endorsement of our plans for the unit from such an important foundation in the UK is of great encouragement to everyone involved,” she said.

“The foundation was extremely impressed by the massive community support for the project, and this was a major factor in their decision to add their weight to the campaign.”

Garfield Weston Foundation director Philippa Charles said she and her colleagues had been impressed by the campaign’s bid and were happy to be able to support it.

“Breast cancer is something that affects an awful lot of people,” she said.

“And they did make an excellent case for the funding.

“It’s clearly going to be a very good facility.

“It’s not just going to be for people who are affected by breast cancer – it will help their families as well.

“The trustees were glad to be able to support it.”

The unit will be at 220 Newtown Road, on the Worcestershire Royal Hospital site, and will provide treatment for both men and women suffering from the disease.

Every year in Worcestershire 600 people are diagnosed with breast cancer, which affects one in eight women and one in 1,000 men in the UK.

The Garfield Weston Foundation has been making grants to UK organisations helping those in need for 50 years and last year gave out almost £50 million.

To find out more about The Garfield Weston Foundation visit garfieldweston.org.

To lend your support to the campaign call 01905 733 786 or visit everybodyknowssomebody.co.uk.

Everyone who donated to the campaign will be added to a roll of honour printed in your Worcester News.